According to Your Body, There Are Only Two Seasons
New research suggests human biology only knows winter and spring
Autumn leaves changing color. The first winter snow. Daffodil blossoms signaling the start of spring. The long, hot days of summer. At temperate latitudes in Europe and the Americas, nature’s four seasons are a big part of people’s lives. But it turns out human biology has a different schedule.
In a recent study published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, Stanford geneticist Michael Snyder, PhD, looked at how people’s biological data changed over the course of the year. Armed with a vast trove of information — over 1,000 measurements from more than 100 people assessing genes, proteins, metabolic markers, immune system markers, and the microbiome — he discovered that instead of four distinct seasons, the body seems to undergo two shifts: one at the beginning of winter and the other in the middle of spring.
Elemental spoke with Snyder about the recent study, what might explain the biological seasons, and what they mean for your health. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Elemental: What inspired you to look at seasonal changes in biology?
